Checkpoint: BLM Needs The Return Of The Black Panthers
Washington State Archives
“No Justice, No Peace”.
The rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement has been ringing out across the United States of America as protests erupt over police brutality against the African American population. A white cop knelt on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes until he died. Breonna Taylor was shot eight times as she lay in bed after police entered her apartment with a no-knock warrant. Philando Castile was shot seven times in his car, in front of his girlfriend and her four year old daughter, during a traffic stop in which he informed the officer that he was carrying a licensed firearm. These instances, and countless others, have provoked a firestorm of anger against police forces across the country.
The response of the Trump administration, and many local police forces, has been heavy-handed. Physical violence by police against protesters is all too common, with a 75 year old now in hospital as a result. Teargas, a chemical whose use is banned in war, has been used liberally on protesters, as has pepper spray. Rubber bullets, designed to be shot at the ground so they ricochet into the target’s legs, are being aimed at the heads and necks of the protesters, often with severe results. Squad cars have been rammed into peaceful protesters. Journalists covering the protests have also seen themselves brutalized by the long arm of the law.
Through it all, Trump has called on State Governors to “dominate” the protesters, advocating the deployment of the National Guard across the country to put down anyone questioning the authority of the police. With America’s military budget set as the highest in the world by a long shot, and military equipment often spilling over into police departments, the firepower certainly exists for Trump to put a swift end to the protests if he wishes to treat protesting as an act of war.
Given the arsenal gathered against them, should Black Lives Matter protesters have armed protection to ensure their safety? Bringing a gun to a peaceful protest is not the contradiction it may sound like. When (mainly white) Americans gathered to protest the lockdown many of them were heavily armed. Even when these individuals stormed the Michigan Statehouse, police did not see any need for rubber bullets or teargas. Aside from this, there is a precedent in America of using firearms to discourage police brutality.
The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. Set up in response to the epidemic of police brutality against the African American community, the first main activity of the party was what they termed “copwatching”. Taking advantage of California’s generous open-carry laws, Panthers would go on patrol fully armed to monitor Oakland’s cops and disincentivize them from open racial discrimination.
“Copwatching” was so successful that then Governor Ronald Regan passed the Mulford Act, repealing open-carry for all California citizens and stripping the Panthers of their legal right to own firearms.
By 1970 the Black Panthers had thousands of members in over 60 cities across America, and even chapters in the United Kingdom and Algeria, with many people drawn by their community social programs like free breakfast for children and free medical clinics. Their popularity might be why FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the party as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country”.
Another reason for Hoover’s unease may have been that some Panthers, such as Fred Hamilton, were trying to build multiracial cooperation against systemic discrimination. Hamilton met with Latin Americans, working class whites, Asians and Native Americans to create a coalition that would give their demands strength in the face of the U.S. Government, far more than any of them could achieve in isolation. As a result, he was assassinated under Hoover’s COINTELPRO program.
Today, the Black Lives Matter movement already attracts a huge multiracial and multinational support base. Protestors as far as Britain and Belgium are marching through the streets tearing down statues of slavers and racists. However, these individuals do not face the same dangers as those chanting “I can’t breathe” on the streets of America.
Time and time again police have treated peaceful protests as a warzone, and protesters as enemy combatants. The attacks on journalists, encouraged by Trump’s “enemies of the people” rhetoric, are a deliberate attempt to cover up the extent of the brutality being inflicted on those demanding justice.
In response to the level of hostility, the spirit of the Black Panthers should be born again in this movement now. Just like in Oakland in 1966, the police have already shown their unwillingness to inflict violence in the face of the possibility that violence may be inflicted back. A modern Black Panther Party could be the bulwark, an armed deterrent to police brutality on African Americans and their allies. This new party could also carry through the energy of current movement, engaging in the kind of community social programs the original Black Panthers set out to do.
Some will say that protests having armed guards will only escalate the violence. However, the violence is already escalating. The police are more than happy to escalate when faced with children, the unarmed and the elderly. They are more than happy to escalate when they possess all the firepower. To stop the violence, the power dynamics between police and protester must be balanced.
Growing calls for police defunding and even abolition are a good start in addressing this power imbalance. The “copwatching” of the Black Panthers should be the next immediate step, however. Until justice is done for every African American victimized by the police, those same police forces cannot be allowed to continue victimizing protesters.